Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1868 — General Intelligence. [ARTICLE]

General Intelligence.

THE LOST BING. A Lawyer’*-Story “Mr. Docket?’ "Yoe. Madam.” '. Xt «*• an elderly woman upon whose brow wire had fun-owed many a wrinkle. She war dressed in homely garments, and the atrog<lebetween penury and neatness which they ertnoed would hive been an interesting utudv for aphiioaophef. Her eyes ware red. tog though she had been wdepmg .and when ■ha seated herself by my desk. the pent-up earrent erf grief burst out afresh. •What ie the matter, my good woman? yon seem to be in deep distress,' I remarked, in the most encouraging tone I could comA’J. am. Sir. They aoy the Lord is near to them that are suffering, and I am sure he ought to be near ate.” t j- “I dare say hois, ma’am. But you know that afflictions are sent to us fur oar good, •nd we ought never rep ne at tbadisciplin'.crflife, however severe it may sometimes to m. M I had beard an excellent sermon the day before, salt was Mond.iv, on tribulation, and I waa jnatta the frAareof mind for giving others moat excellent advice, which, peihape,i should have been very unwilling to ~ Tolfowlf the dark waters of ttouble hadml. led over me. . *! try to bear it as well as 1 can, she replied. wiping away her team with the corner »® acquainted with you, ma'am, "! suggested, for the purpose of changing the topic and bringing her to bus•tawa “I don’t know as you are," she replied; sad dle proceeded to give me a very long mill veiy ewocinct account of her pterions history, beginning back some forty years, whan she was born among the White Mountains in New Hampshire. —j I tried to check her, but it wan bo sac - was as patient as the case would admit, sad mindful of the duty we owe to the vrfk. the infl rm and the ignorant, but my pfitteset) was sorely tried. I will not pumzL £» reader with the long fine-spun story etc told me, but a few lines will suffice to inform him .of the material facts. She was a widow, her name was Marche. She had an only bob, Philip, who was employed in the insurance office, and received three dollars a week for his services. He —was a good boy and loved his mother, as a son should. Upon their united earnings they bred .very comfortably in an obscure street, where they hired two rooms. Sirs. Marche's catalogue of her son’s virtues was certainly very edifying. He never spent a cent upon himself, never wentoutstnights, and attended church forenoon and after-

noon. An evil day had come. On the Saturday, throe weeks proceeding, Mr. Carman, the President of the insurance company, as he declared, had sent Philip with a valuable diamond ring to the jeweler's to have the Stone reset. On inquiry the ring was found j not to have reached its destination. The jeweler had never seen it. To make the case more complicated, the boy denied having received the nng. Mr. Carman had never sent him on any such errand. * The boy hadjbeen arrested on a charge of stealing the ring, and was now confined in jail Mr. Carman was ready to swear he delivered the valuable article into the hands of the boy with explicit directions ns to where he should carry it and what should be done with it. > It looked like a bad case. The poor woman was in the saddest distress. - She was sure that her darling boy Would not steal. I pitied heraud.promised to do what I could for her son. When she had gone I called upon Mr. Carman. I found that he was one of those dogmatic old fellows who axe never wrong —who find it impossible to err, even by design, or to make a mistake. I tried to argue thepoint w ith him, bttthajtmild nnt say much. He "told methe story—was sure he sent the boy and nobody else. I ventured to suggest that he might have been mistaken; that he had sent the ring by some other person. k " “Do you take me for a simpleton sir? Do you think I don’t know what I am about ?” he exclaimed, bestowing upon me a look of withering contempt. "I sent the ring with the boy, sir. The boy has stolen it Nothing more need be said, sir.” And he turned to thamewspaper he had been reading. I was not much pleased with the interview. I was highly vexed at the haughty bearing of the fellow, and I confess thatmy pique rendered me tenfold more zealous in my endeavors to clear my youthful client I visited Philip in the jail. He was very sad on his mother’s account; on his own he ' seemed not to care. A more frank, openhearted boy I never saw. He toldhis story; and though I questioned him pretty severely he was consistent to the hist

I made the case my own, and worked unceasingly, as it seemed to ma then, for the overthrow of the haughty President of the insurance company, as much as for the salvation of the widow and her interesting son. I visited more than a dozen jewelry ■hops that afternoon and the next morning, with what result the reader shall learn m the details of the trial which came on the Best day. Philip was duly arraigned, end his poor mother sat by his side weeping and sobbing hkeachild as the case proceeded. Mr. Carman, with majestic dignity, stepped upon the stand. He told the story nave before detailed, and was turned over to me lor cross-examination. I could qgp; that he was nettled, for he Certainly cduld see he mercy in my face. “Mr. Carman, are you willing so swear that you gave the ring to the boy ?” “Certainly I am,” he replied, vexed and angry, tat he' had answered the same question a dozen times ip the course of the <•1 beg your honor to notice particularly the words of this witness,” I remarked to the court His honor testified readily that he had noticed them, as’W matter of course; he had them ip his minutes; and he rather snubbed me for pressing so respectable a witness in so severe a manner. ‘ •Now. Mr. Carman, may I beg you to examine this ring ?” and I handed him the one - “Jt Is spine,” be replied, with evident as- “ You indentify the ring, dp you sir ?” “Ide.”

“That is fill sir. May it please your honor, I shall bring but one witness for the dolense. Will Mr. Graham take the staid?” My. Graham took the stand. I showed * '•nGreytra ever seen this ring before?” ’. *4itoto the court what yon knew about it" ■tajfr. Graham proceeded to state tnat he that the ring was left at his

■ < 1 ■ shop three £ve. k.J>wtorc by an cldvlly gen “la the gentleman in the courtroom?" I 1 naked. . - ... ~ “He is; there he tiita," and be pointed to >fr. Carman . i The court was asfopishsd. th officers Were and Ifir.'OarmMi waa overwhelmed with confhsion. i He acknowledgf'd b'tl.'TlOl wUen there was no poasi- * biffty ot concealing it. He asked to correct hi" testimony apd did so. • ( i ’ 'Mr. Carman was a very absent-minded I _ man; anti tbs »u>lwiMm<rf the-whole- matter -fa that he forgotall the circumstancea-con-naoted with tbe -ring. He intended to have sent Philip to the jeweler's with it, and actually called him for that purpose, but Ma attmiffon was attracted to something else, and'he thought no more about it. On hia way home to dinner w’utlc his mind was al»sorl>ed by an important business operation, he had left the ring at Mr. Graham's. I The impression that he had given the ring , to Philip wks fwusted upon hia mind. He remembered the foct of and his intention became a reality. Whin- thus cqruered, be amused the -4 judged with several other liwtarww of abi scnt-mitidnluess of which ha had been guiltv. in this manptf expUintng the mis--51 take he had made,. ■

I must do him tbs justice to say that be made Philip ample amends in' the shape of f • hundred dollar bill for the trouble he had caused him, but 1 believe that Mr. Carman hated me to the day of bis death. I can only say that I should not have punished ' hini so severely if he had treated mo like a | gentleman.